After years of use, many devices which require water can suffer leaks in the supply pipes, which bring water supply to the area. Typically, the supply pipes are underground pipes. Due to age, the intrusion of roots, placement of heavy loads and shifting of the earth above and around existing piping or a variety of other reasons, underground piping can become damaged, requiring this repair for the resulting leaks. This makes repair thereof difficult. While repair may be accomplished by excavating, removing and replacing the total existing pipe or only damaged sections of the pipe; such procedures are either very time consuming, expensive or even impossible to perform.
As can be seen from FIG. 1, underground polyvinyl chloride piping or plastic specifically used for the circulation of pool water, chiefly the underground main piping system 116 located at the bottom, a deep end of the pool 110, has a tendency to leak during years of operation. These pipes range in sizes with inside diameters of usually 1.5 inches, 2 inches, 3 inches and 4 inches and are imbedded from under the pool bottom, or its adjacent sides (skimmers) to the pump and filter units. Conditioned pool water returns to the pool 110 through the underground main piping system 116 and exits through water jet outlets 120 built below the water line located in the poolside walls. These units are usually housed within a building structure fitted with or without a foundation and with or without concrete flooring 118. Another obstacle is the location of the pool 110 itself. Pools on top or within buildings are unable to be excavated or to use excavating equipment to get to and replace the existing piping 124, which leaks.
During initial construction, a main drain water inlet 122 was built into the deepest section of the pool 110. The main drain water inlet 122 connects one of the underground main piping system 116 needed to transport pool water for proper circulation of chemically treated, heated (if the pool 110 is equipped with a pool heater), and filtration for pool water clarity. Skimmers (not shown) are located in the pool walls partially submerged at the water line to skim any debris from the pool water surface and to transport the debris and water it ingests to the pump house 118 through underground return lines. These lines are also susceptible to leakage. The pump house 118 heats, filters, and chlorinates the water and returns the conditioned water back to the pool 110 through other underground piping (not shown). This return piping is also susceptible to leakage while exiting through wall mounted outlet jets 120 located in the sides of pool 110 below the water line.
Hot tubs and Jacuzzis also have potential pipe leakage problems that take extensive time, labor and materials to repair such leaks including the renovation of the surrounding area to its original state. It thus becomes critical to simplify this repair process.
Natural gas pipes made of galvanized, metal pipe are also a major problem. The interior of the galvanized pipe corrodes relatively quickly upon contact with the gas being transited. A large build-up of corrosion restricting gas flow is not uncommon. This restricted gas flow elicits a safety hazard. The initial demand for gas from a restricted gas line has the tendency to starve off and snuff out gas pilot lights located in appliances such as ovens, stoves and gas water heaters without the knowledge by the user of the pilot being extinguished. The present process to repair this quandary is to insert a straight rigid plastic sleeve into the existing pipe. The difficulty exists if there is the slightest turn or bend in the pipe being repaired. At that locality, the existing pipe has to be excavated in order to be repaired.
It is not uncommon for electricians to bury plastic (Polyvinyl chloride) pipe ranging from 1.5 inches to four inches in inside diameter to house exposed individual or bundled electrical wiring. At times, high water tables along with damaged pipe containing above-mentioned wiring become submersed or saturated with ground or influent water. This problem can be difficult to solve, even with excavation to access these pipes. Many solutions of the above-mentioned problems have been sought, but no previous solution has been regarded as fully viable.
Previous repair mechanisms mainly repair only straight piping with minimal if any curves. Previous devices, especially to solve this curve problem are too elaborate and mostly consist of expensive machinery, such as abrasive blasting machines, to prepare the existing pipe for liner adhesion. Adhesive, epoxy or resin tanks for mixing and distribution to line the damaged pipe after the sand blasting are mandatory and complicated.
Compressed air along with steam or heat producing machines are also implemented to clean the damaged line or to adhere the resin impregnated liner to the inside diameter of the damaged line after it had been set into place. Curing also has to take place after the impregnation process is complete. This leads to excessive down time and man-hours playing a major role to install resin impregnated liners and other similar systems.
Another usual method of repair is therefore still to excavate the damaged area or the total length of the damaged pipe if able, or to tear down and restore existing structures such as bathrooms or indoor pools and Jacuzzis. This results in great expense and trouble along with down time of the existing unit as the damaged pipe is supporting the day-to-day operations of the existing unit. Thus, any method or device, which minimizes the down time and speeds up the repair offers great advantages.